The Complexities of Speed and Honor
by CampionSayn
Summary: They were there when they were both born. Their own little Four Musketeer troop and nothing would change that; not even the bumps along the way. Mention of Bat and West siblings. One-shot.


Title: The Complexities of Speed and Honor  
>Summary: They were there when they were both born. Their own little Four Musketeer troop and nothing would change that; not even the bumps along the way. Mention of Bat and West siblings.<br>Disclaimer: I own none of the characters, merchandise, etc. Don't sue me.  
>Warnings: Twinning one-shot, explanations for the West boys, family structure, all the fun stuff. Oh, and angst—lots and lots of angst.<br>Dedication: To **Rose Midnight Moonlight Black** because she asked for something like this. It's not entirely right, not the way it was specified and requested, but it's really the best that I could do. I'm hoping this is the bait that will bring my favorite author back into the fray. Or, at least cheer her up from studying.

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><p><em>-:-<br>You don't understand! I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I could've been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am."  
>- <em>_On the Waterfront_

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><p>There would forever be a little part of Lian and Colin that was jealous of both Irey and Damian. They both had siblings that they could always reach whenever they needed each other. True, all of them were friends and all were tremendously close, but it wasn't the same as having brothers and sisters.<p>

Irey had Jai, and no matter how much they argued and fought, there was no doubt that Jai would beat someone to death if they ever hurt his twin and Irey would vibrate someone into a wall if they messed with Jai the wrong way. They were twins, after all.

Damian had three older brothers that had watched his back even when he was a spoiled brat and tried to kill them from time to time, as well as an older sister that was in the League of Assassins at one point that sort of cared about him and a now sister-in-law that had gotten him in touch with his inner child despite how hard he worked to conceal it. He was more than covered in the sibling department.

Lian and Colin had no such luck. Lian had her father and not really related family and Colin had nobody.

So, when Irey decided to get artificially inseminated, it came as a joy to all of her friends, but none so much as the brunette and ginger—finally someone to watch over and protect and all that good stuff that Damian had snidely remarked was too much like Grayson but was blatantly ignored by all parties.

It wasn't exactly a normal family structure, but all were happy about it.

Irey gave birth to a beautiful ginger and automatically elected Lian and Colin as the godparents. Damian was not at all insulted by this as he had no wish to even hold the squealing sack of flesh when he came into the world and was named Jay in memory of Great Uncle Barry's mentor, the first speedster; this however changed when Irey promised that Damian could be godfather to her next child—and she would have another as she didn't think it was right not to have at least two kids so the each had someone to depend on.

Colin and Lian made sure they were always around for both Irey and the baby; Lian actually moving to Central City for a while, house right across the street. The lady speedster often commented that she was incredibly lucky to have constant babysitters—even if one of them happened to be Damian. Jay actually seemed to like the dark, brooding Bat, despite spending more time with Colin and Lian.

When Barry was born, nothing much changed, except that Jai became less involved with League business and started visiting his nephews more—although, he mostly came to see if either were developing any powers. Neither Irey or Jai wanted them to age ten years overnight, vibrate through their cribs and fall to the ground or knock the furniture into oblivion when they started toddling around on their own.

To everyone's relief—none more so than Damian as he didn't want to deal with either gingers, despite Colin's best attempts to get him more interested in others' well being—neither one showed any signs of being attached to the Speed Force. They were just…normal.

Wally and Linda made sure they came over often, even if Irey brought along her three best friends most of the time. They were proud grandparents, even if neither youngster had any powers.

As the kids grew older, Jay developed a habit of being over protective of Barry. Even if he was four years older, he insisted on making sure that the smaller ginger was okay and was given a cell phone by Colin when he started school so he could call home at lunch and get a "status report" on his baby brother. Irey could not stop laughing the first week; it was so adorable.

When Jay turned seven, Lian started teaching him archery and Colin taught him basic defense. He was quite adept at this, especially with the bow and arrow—Lian was actually thinking about taking him to tournaments when he got good enough at it. Colin started to agree that the tiny ginger could be better at long range attacks than short range.

Damian, guilted into spending more time with the little gingers—both of them, for the love of all things holy—started teaching Jay how to speak some foreign languages and taught Barry how to nerve strike somebody. When Jay was ten, he could speak Arabic, Japanese and Greek. When Barry was six, Irey decided that he couldn't train with Uncle Damian anymore, because when a kid bullied him in the schoolyard Barry struck a nerve, knocked the kid out and nearly gave the Principal a heart-attack. The son of Batman was pleased with this.

A month after Jay turned eleven and Aunt Lian and his mom were taking him to a national archery competition, the ginger being in the very top percentile, his mother got a call from Colin back at Central City that Barry had vibrated through the door at home and had never sounded so excited—even when he had been around for Jay's first steps.

The call had come during the competition and Irey hadn't even thought about it when she sped home. Lian hadn't known what to say to Jay when he got the first place trophy and went up in the stands where both the most important women in his life always sat to find that one of them were gone and things had changed.

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><p>"You want me to do what?"<p>

"Please, Boss? Please, please, _please_!"

Amazing. Agent Jay West of the NSA had finally been allowed to visit Central City after such a long time, had the League in contact with him, had his boss trusting him with watching over Zeta when he was assigned to go do field work for the League (granted it wasn't too glamorous, as he also to watch over Rowan with the girl still not trusting him) and yet, somehow, he had expected more than a scintilla of peace away from his brother. He couldn't even have breakfast out at his old hangout—a café with awnings and free refills—an hour after he'd woken up without his brother badgering him like a yappy Chihuahua.

The nickname wasn't actually helping the younger ginger's case. If anything, at seven in the morning, it was pissing Jay off much faster. He bit through the bacon burger like it was less than bread, ignoring how vicious he probably looked to Barry.

"You already have a sparring partner," Jay snorted as his brother tried to only go through one cup of his extra-large coffee per every half-hour, "I heard from Warhawk that both you and the new Batman are getting lessons from Damian, Uncle Dick and Uncle Colin. What do you need me for?"

Barry pursed his lips, fingers playing with the handle of his coffee cup that belonged on the Mad Hatter's tea table, trying not to sound too desperate and fiddling like an idiot with the gold earring attached to the top of his left ear, "Technically yes, he is sometimes my partner, but only when he doesn't bring Deidre along."

"Who?"

Barry blinked at his brother, trying to slow down his thought process. Jay understood that it took a lot out of his brother to slow down a little so he didn't make an ass out of himself; the elder was sympathetic, but not this morning. This morning any good will could go and screw itself, along with his present headache growing behind his eyes.

In a moment—twenty seconds, a record in slowness for Barry—the younger man figured out which 'who' Jay spoke of and, to appease Jay, maybe, slammed his head on the table twice and parked it on the table cloth, groaning inwardly like an enraged Grizzly bear in a trap and outwardly like a cat doused by a spray bottle.

"Right, you don't know her real name yet. Batman's going to kill me—protect me when you come with me to spar?"

And just like that the appeasement Jay got out of Barry doing harm to himself was snuffed out.

"You could run away from him—"

"He knows where I live."

"You've had more training—"

"He was in a gang."

"Does this Deidre have enough of a spine to hide you from this Dark Knight?"

Barry frowned at that, spelunking his pointer finger into his coffee and flicked the drop holding onto his skin at his brother. Jay ducked and chewed at his food with a light, victorious smirk.

"Okay, now that's the line; I have no choice but to resort to blackmail," Barry shrugged, crossing his arms like a fisherman's wife before she started off on a tirade, "Either you come with me to training with Uncle Damian—"

"Why do you even call him that when he didn't like it even when we were little?"

"And Uncle Colin, or I will have mom drag you there with me like horses with Gladiators."

The look in Jay's eyes and the line of his mouth turned sour swiftly at the mention of their mother. Despite all the grief he got from the lovely ginger woman over the last twelve years—training with Barry, taking his younger brother into danger despite her saying the young man wouldn't stay put, her being very unsupportive of his joining the NSA and still being very antsy anytime he mentioned his working days—he didn't have it in him to go against her for anything. Barry wasn't playing very fair.

The small onions in the burger stuck in-between two of his front teeth. His tongue swiped over the onion, scooping it up and he spat it onto the sidewalk beyond the black gate that surrounded the café near their table. An old lady waiting in line within sight of them and the door frowned at both the young men.

"If I say yes," Jay started, taking a small sip from his coffee, despite it being hot as the beaker it had just come out of and it leaving a fire storm down his throat, "You promise to shut up to mom about this little favor. It's bad enough having her worrying about us while I'm on the job and you're at 'work'; I don't want her showing up, probably with Aunt Lian, to watch the both of us get bossed around by The Prince of Darkness. She didn't like it when we were kids, you just know it's going to be worse now."

"She's our mother, they're our family," Barry stated, as though it was just the right thing to say, "It's natural for them to worry about us."

"Sure it is," Jay sneered, spitting out more onions; three pigeons flying down to pick them up.

With a wave and a blink that nobody else noticed—save Jay, but he didn't count—Barry got a refill for his drink and another doughnut off of one of the trays in the café's kitchen. He took back his spot and, resting against his elbows, he spoke through a large bite of his chocolate doughnut, muttered, "Damn, you're almost as angsty these days as Uncle Jason."

Here the NSA agent snorted and replied, "As though that would ever be possible."

"…Yeah, well, close enough."


End file.
